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Skriven 2005-09-27 22:08:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Supreme Court
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http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/27/D8CSSDT8B.html

High Court Selection Process Winds Down
Sep 27 6:25 PM US/Eastern
   

By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON


President Bush, close to nominating a successor to retiring Justice 
Sandra Day O'Connor, has narrowed his list to a handful of candidates 
that outside advisers say includes federal judges and two people who 
have never banged a gavel _ corporate attorney Larry Thompson and White 
House counsel Harriet Miers. 

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Tuesday that Bush had 
pledged to consult with senators about his selection and said, "I think 
we were essentially wrapping that process up as early as today." 

He declined to say if the president had interviewed any candidates and 
wouldn't speculate about Bush's favorites, but legal analysts monitoring 
the selection process say others often mentioned are federal appellate 
judges Alice Batchelder, J. Michael Luttig, Edith Jones, J. Harvie 
Wilkinson, Priscilla Owen, Samuel Alito, Karen Williams and Michael 
McConnell. Also said to be on the list are Maura Corrigan, a judge on 
the Michigan Supreme Court, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. 

Bush is expected to announce his nominee quickly after Thursday's 
anticipated confirmation and swearing in of John Roberts as chief 
justice. 

Bush on Monday hinted he might choose a woman or minority member. But 
some outside advisers were intrigued by another part of Bush's reply. 
The president said he had interviewed and considered people from "all 
walks of life." 

That raised speculation that Bush was actively considering people who 
were not on the bench _ such as Miers, a Texas lawyer and the 
president's former personal attorney, and Thompson, a counsel at 
PepsiCo, who was the federal government's highest ranking black law 
enforcement official when he was deputy attorney general during Bush's 
first term. 

"It could be someone outside of the legal judicial field like a Larry 
Thompson, or it could be a senator," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for 
the American Center for Law and Justice, a public interest legal group 
founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. 

Sekulow said he's heard Miers' name mentioned "fairly significantly" 
during the past two days. She doesn't have judicial experience, but 
she's a "well-respected lawyer _ someone the president trusts." 

"I think Harriet could certainly be in the mix," he said. 

Two other judicial activists, including one with contacts at the White 
House, said they too had heard Miers' name mentioned, but agreed with 
Sekulow, who cautioned: "I don't think anybody has that crystal ball but 
the president." 

Miers is leading the White House effort to help Bush choose nominees to 
the Supreme Court so naming her would follow a move Bush made in 2000 
when he tapped the man leading his search committee for a running mate _ 
Dick Cheney. 

"Given the Cheney precedent and the president's well-known loyalty to 
his aides, it's certainly possible the president could turn to Harriet," 
said Brad Berenson, a lawyer who formerly worked in the counsel's office 
of the Bush White House. 

"She's a very able lawyer who is the person currently charged with 
carrying forward the president's search for judicial conservatives, so 
she certainly understands what the president looks for in his nominees. 
I suspect she'd be confirmed quite easily." 

All eight of the sitting justices were judges first, although Justice 
Clarence Thomas had only been an appeals court judge a year. The late 
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist never served as a lower court judge. 

Elliot Mincberg, counsel with the liberal People for the American Way, 
said if Bush chooses someone without a judicial record, the White House 
should be prepared for the nominee to be peppered with questions. 

"Choosing somebody who is not a judge would put that much more of a 
premium on straight answers to questions because there would be that 
much less for senators and the public to go on when looking at such a 
nominee's judicial philosophy," Mincberg said.


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